


The Last Days of Summer

by themultifandomnerd



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Could be read as a stand alone but tbh it would make more sense if you read tdros first, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Growing Up, Hurt/Comfort, Life Pains, M/M, Sequel, Sequel to The Different Rules of Summer, updates once a day everyday
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-16
Updated: 2018-06-28
Packaged: 2019-05-24 06:34:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 11,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14949449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/themultifandomnerd/pseuds/themultifandomnerd
Summary: Keith hated change.Lance embraced it.Last summer, Lance and Keith were volunteers at a library who fell in love. This summer, Lance and Keith are high school graduates who were about to be shoved into adulthood in a tale about the growing pains of transitioning, relationships, and the sign language in between.Another 40 Day Chapter Challenge by the dweeb that wrote ‘The Different Rules of Summer’.





	1. Summer Returns

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bubleboobo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bubleboobo/gifts).



> Lance is a high school graduate and is taking it all in.

Crickets were chirping, the night heat was a tad sweltering, and Lance McClain was sitting on the back porch.

 

He could vaguely hear the TV playing in the inside of his house, pretty sure that Jacob was potentially hogging the remote and forcing everyone to watch the newest episode of Project Runway. A new season dropped last week and it would probably be the thing playing in the McClain household for a while. But Lance didn’t really care about that.

 

_ I’m a high school graduate. _

 

Lance rocked back a little on the hanging bench that they had. 

 

He had spent so many summers sitting on this bench. Summers eating watermelon, summers looking over his AP math summer homework, last summer telling his best friend in the whole world he had a crush on someone.

 

But this was officially the first summer he was sitting on this bench as a high school graduate.

 

Lance Carlos McClain, high school graduate. May 27th, Valedictorian, top of his class.

 

Holy quiznak.

 

_ I’m… adulting. _ Lance didn’t even care if he was still tired from the celebrating. The graduation itself lasted for hours it felt, then the very next day his family had thrown some bonfire celebration at his Uncle Juan’s house where Lance spent it half celebrating the fact that he no longer had to deal with his creepy chemistry teacher and her shitty son Low-Condition and half running from his life because of his Uncle Juan’s demon goat Nettle tried to kill him. Then after that there was a third day of celebrating because Coach Sendak, evil as he was, took Lance and the rest of his soccer teammates to a pizza place that had an arcade.

 

Now the partying was finally over.

 

He blinked, eyelids burning a little and let out a deep breath.

 

No more needing to deal with Nettle.

 

No more arcade gaming with Torak, Victor, and Rolo. 

 

No more morning walks to Saint Pines High School, Home of the Shining Welbums.

 

No more soccer games.

 

…. 

 

_ Holy cheese, I won’t have to go back to high school after this. _ Lance’s eyes got wide.

 

He was actually finished.

 

Lance whipped out his phone.

 

**[Me**   
Here i am casually adulting   
And i’m like   
……. Damn i don’t gotta go back to high school anymore   
We made it **]**

 

It didn’t take much longer for someone in his group chat to finally respond.

 

**[TheVirginSwimcerfice**   
Ikr?!   
It didn’t even hit me until i got home and my moms were like ‘congrats our little engineer, you don’t gotta go back there anymore. You made us proud’

 

**ICouldn’tThinkOfAGoodRockPun**   
I know!!   
:’( I’m gonna miss the old Jeweler Club

 

**RegionalGayChickenChamp**   
Easy for you guys to say **]**

 

Oh.

 

Right.

 

Lance leaned back on one of the cushions. Pidge being the youngest out of his closest friend group was the only one still in high school. She was going to be heading into her junior year the following August.

 

**[Me**   
Sorry Pidgey   
We’re still Pokemon Bros waiting for KH3 if it makes you feel better

 

**RegionalGayChickenChamp**   
Meh

 

**TheVirginSwimcerfice**   
Why the meh?

 

**RegionalGayChickenChamp**   
Because even if we’re still pokemon buddies and in a group chat, I’m still stuck in high school and you guys will go off and make cool college buddies and forget about me   
You’ll probably even stop responding to my memes **]**

 

Lance bit his bottom lip, stomach churning with guilt as Shay sent in a message as some kind of damage control.

 

Right

 

**[CurrentlyDoingThat**   
If it makes you feel better, I’m not going to college   
And who the hell changed my nickname?   
Lance!!! **]**

 

The guilt evaporated instantly.

 

(Then it lowkey returned because he didn’t have to forget Pidge’s plights that fast but still, it was Keith okay. Lance wouldn’t have been able to stop the warm fuzzies in his chest even if he wanted to.)

 

**[Me**   
Sup babe <3 ;*

 

**CurrentlyDoingThat**   
I’m changing this nickname

 

**Me**   
I’ll just change it to a 50% off reference if i have to

 

**RegionalGayChickenChamp**   
Hey love birds?   
Can you not? I want to suffer in peace

 

**Me**   
Piiidge, come on!   
We’ll still hang out and rabbit avatar   
Oh and we still need to make you a Melon Lord cosplay to go with my sokka cosplay **]**

 

Altea City Comic-Con was going to be this summer before classes started and Lance already has ticket.

 

Everyone had a ticket.

 

It was going to be the last school-free weekend in August and it was supposed to be their way of celebrate before Pidge had to go back to school. Shay was going to be moving out to the dorms to Altea University (the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences she would proudly add) after that while Hunk would be going to the Garrison. Lovey dovey as they were, the Garrison had the better engineering program.

 

Lance’s heart twinged again.

 

Shay and Hunk already had their plans set up in life.

 

Lance well… the most he had decided was that he wanted to be a teacher.

 

**[**

 

_ \-- CurrentlyDoingThat changed to QuitChangingMyNicknames-- _

 

_ \-- QuitChangingMyNicknames changed to ILoveU2-- _

 

**ICouldn’tThinkOfAGoodRockPun**   
Boys

 

**Me**   
Keith started it **]**

 

Lance snickered to himself, pretty sure that Keith was more than likely rolling his eyes intensely. He could call Lance a dork, but Lance would always warm heartedly respond that he was Keith’s dork. For almost a year now.

 

He pressed out of his group chat with his friends in order to go the private one he had with Keith.

 

**[Me**   
This summer will make it a year yknow   
Late june   
You and me

 

**Keefypoo**   
Yeah i know…   
A year since you gave me first kiss and it sucked

 

**Me**   
Dude **]**

 

Not that Lance could get offended completely since Keith had been telling the truth. 

 

In an effort to be like Keith and act impulsively on his feelings after Keith confessed his own, Lance had pressed their mouths together in a violent teeth clash. He was surprised that they both still had all their teeth. 

 

_ The Men in Black memory wiper thing needs to exist so i can make him forget that. And me. I wanna forget that too. _

 

**[Me**   
I gave you so many good kisses after that that you shouldn’t even care about that one anymore

 

**Keefypoo**   
Nope   
It was my first kiss   
I have to remember it

 

**Me**   
Your sign name literally should be jerk with a k

 

**Keefypoo**   
ILoveU2 **]**

 

Lance couldn’t hold back a snort with that one.

 

This was his boyfriend.

 

A little shit incarnate most of the time, but still totally adorable.

 

And a guy Lance had met when he had decided to spend yet another few months volunteering so he could his service hours up for university. The next thing Lance knew, he was having a summer of many firsts.

 

First time reading a book series that featured talking cats.

 

First time seeing a picture of a statue of Mothman and seeing he had a well polished six pack that Keith explained as a theory where the people in that town kept them shiny in order to appease Mothman and keep him from wreaking vengeance against the world.

 

First time Lance gained feelings for someone without even realizing.

 

All because Lance had decided to break the ice by asking the new guy at his job if he believed in ghosts.

 

The next thing Lance knew, they were having daily conversations and a life threatening motorcycle ride.

 

Lance was grinning to himself for a while before he finally got another text from Keith.

 

**[Keefypoo**   
Hey, everyone is waiting for you in the group chat and wondering if you wanted to have a group rabbiting session

 

**Me**   
Hell yeah!! **]**

 

Lance finally went back over to the group chat and saw the movie options. Lately, they’d been watching those Made-For-TV Disney movies that made them cringe for hours afterwards.

 

They settled on Descendants.

 

After five minutes of staring at bad wigs, Lance was snickering into his pillow as Shay out of everyone raged about the outfit design.

 

_ Oh yeah.  _ Lance thought, smiling at the lockscreen photo of him and Keith. Keith's face was flushed red as he looked away from the camera adamantly as Lance wrapped an arm around his shoulders, pressing a big kiss on his cheek. It was their first ever selfie as a couple.  _ This is going to be a great summer too. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it.
> 
> I've been talking about it last year.
> 
> I was thinking about since last year.
> 
> Now here it is.
> 
> The official sequel to The Different Rules of Summer. Our favorite dorks are back and it's been almost a year since the events of the first story. Last summer they were library volunteers, this summer they're high school graduates. So for those who find this story and were around for my TDROS days, welcome back! I hope to see some familiar faces in the comments. And for those who are new, the rundown is that this is a personal challenge where for 40 days I upload a chapter. It forces me to write and finish a story while allowing me to have some creative fun. So, chapters will be short but you still get another quickly after.  
> (After going through TDROS again and looking at the comments, I was inspired and thus this sequel was born.)
> 
> I feel like this is a story anyone could use, high schoolers, recent high school graduates, or anyone trying to adult and transitioning into a new period of life. This is for you guys, so I hope you like it. Especially my girlfriend who I dedicate this story to after all her support the last time I did something like this.
> 
> So, hit me up on tumblr if you wanna ever chat @[ themultifandomnerd ](%E2%80%9Dthemultifandomnerd.tumblr.com%E2%80%9D)  
> fic: tldos will be the fic's official tag as well, so if you ever wanna show me something put that in the first five tags whether it be art, memes, or gifs reacting to the madness lololol.


	2. Whoever Said Shiro Was the Mature One Was Technically Wrong

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith isn't exactly sure who came up with the idea that Shiro was the mature one, but that is the most inaccurate thing he has ever heard.

**[Lancey Lance**   
This summer makes it a year yknow   
Late june   
You and me

 

**Me**   
I know   
A year since you gave me my first kiss and it sucked

 

**Lancey Lance**   
Dude

I gave you so many good kisses after that that you shouldn’t even care about that one anymore

 

**Me**   
Nope   
It was my first kiss   
I have to remember it **]**

 

Keith snickered at his phone as he went through his more recent texts with Lance. 

 

Teasing him didn’t ever seem to get old, even if it had been quite a few months since they first met. It was nice, smooth. An easy system where they both knew how far they could press while still being in the realms of humorous and comforting.

 

It had been like that since day one.

 

No awkwardly tiptoeing around Keith’s deafness like it was some kind of disease or bad word that couldn’t be said out loud.

 

No awkward let me assume I need to do this thing for you since you’re deaf and it makes it awkward for in situations where we’re not around other deaf people.

 

Most importantly, no awkward situations trying to interact with each other’s friends and families because the part of Keith’s life that included the hearing had all taken the initiative to take that step for better communication.

 

Lance had taken care of that and hadn’t fallen complacent in relying on how they used to communicate when they first met on old notebook paper. (Would it be embarrassing for Keith to admit he still had some of those papers? It would probably be embarrassing to admit he still had some of those papers. Like the time Keith had accidentally spoiled a part of the Warrior Cat series before Lance had even started reading it and the time they had some debate about pineapples being a devil fruit because they digest you back. But at least he knew that Lance more than likely had his own copies of those papers. So it was mutual embarrassing fluff they could latch onto.) 

 

And yes, while Keith wouldn’t dare admit it in their most recent thread of messages-- Lance was a much better kisser when he wasn’t panicking and trying to act irrationally.

 

In fact, Lance was good at a lot of things when he wasn’t packing or acting irrationally.

 

With that, Keith finally decided to put his phone down and swing his legs over the side of his bed. He had no cat to worry about either since Red had already taken off somewhere.

 

His room was pretty dull, considering how early in the morning it was. He hadn’t adjusted to sleeping late and waking up late yet.  _ I guess staying up late making last minute conspiracy boards paid off.  _ Keith thought, feeling a little amused. There was probably also the fact that he would usually be up late doing assignments he procrastinated on, but he didn’t even want to think about homework for the rest of his life.

 

Keith stretched.  _ I’m finally out of that hell hole! _

 

Finally finally.

 

Violet eyes skimmed over to where the most sunlight was filtering in his room and his eyes rested on that cactus near it.  _ I really don’t get why Lance even likes school, Cactalot.  _ (“Why on earth are you naming him this?” Keith asked Lance quite a few months prior. “Because it’s cute and sounds like ‘Lancelot’ and ‘Cactus’ mixed into one word, Babe.” Was Lance’s response. Keith refuses to admit that the name grew on him.) 

 

It didn’t take long for Keith to finally leave his room in favor for breakfast.

 

_ “Hey, Shiro.”  _

 

That was one perk to waking up early, Keith guesses. He usually got to see his brother before he left for work.

 

Shiro grinned and gave a slight wave with the hand that wasn’t holding his coffee mug. ‘Hey, high school graduate’, his face seemed to be saying. Keith snorted but he made he made his bowl of cheerios nonetheless and sat across from Shiro at their tiny kitchen table.  _ “I think I might volunteer at the library again. At least until I get a paying job.” _

 

Shiro’s eyes lit up and the coffee mug got set down right away and brought down his right hand from his chin to his left palm.  _ “Good!”  _ He said enthusiastically. _ “Is Lance volunteering still?” _ Keith took extra note of the sign name Shiro used for him. It was the sign for ‘happy’ but instead of using his palm, he was using an ‘L’ It was… Lance’s second sign name so to speak, or at least, that was sign name Keith used for him when talking to other people.

 

Last summer when Keith gave his then completely new boyfriend his sign name, it was a spur of the moment, romantic idea that ended with Keith laughing and Lance being flustered.

 

It wasn’t until Keith’s mom had finally asked if Keith had given Lance a sign name when she found out they were dating a week later when Keith was suddenly hit with a huge flush of embarrassment--  _ I cannot tell my parents that I made his sign name the sign for ‘beautiful’!  _ And thus happy with an L was born. “Because he’s a happy person.” Keith had said. Almost immediately after, he couldn’t keep away the thought “And he makes me happy” from entering his conscience. 

 

Keith nodded.  _ “He wants to get in as many hours as possible before he finally heads off to college.” _

 

_ “What school?” _

 

 _No school I’m going to._ _”He’s undecided right now, but I think it’s going to be local.”_

 

There were several universities that Lance had to choose from in the city they all happened to live in. Between all of them, Keith didn’t know what the requirements were to get into any of them, but considering how much an overachiever Lance was Keith wasn’t worried about Lance needing to stress over his applications. Lance seemed to revel in school and education, that was abundantly clear. He was even a great tutor which was good considering he wanted to be a teacher, a job that would fit him pretty well.

 

_ “Nothing out of state?” _

 

Keith shook his head with a shrug.  _ “Don’t know.” _ He took a bite out of his cheerios. _ “But he would have said something if he was considering them, so no.” _ Which works out for him since Lance going to school locally would mean it would be easier to see him.

 

Like, Keith understood that between work and school, they probably wouldn’t be able to see each other everyday. But it would be a whole lot easier dealing with that than Lance going somewhere inaccessible. 

 

Shiro’s lips turned into a mischievous expression. _ “You really like him~” _

 

Face flushing lightly, Keith waved out his right palm.  _ “Knock it off!” _

 

Now Shiro was laughing.

 

Even a near year later, Shiro was still the worst.

 

He improved  _ a little _ since the incident where he stole Keith’s phone in order to carry out some dumb plan to intimidate Lance on their first date, but if Keith was being honest with himself it wasn’t by much. Shiro was worse than Gretchen Weiners from Mean Girls and that was really saying something considering the events that took place in what was probably Lance’s fourth favorite movie in the universe that he made Keith watch at least five times now.

 

Like nonchalantly appearing out of nowhere with a bag of chips he was totally offering to the two of them when Lance was over and they were alone in Keith’s room, always right when they were about to make out.

 

Or randomly bringing out pictures of Keith’s old childhood photos when Lance came over.

 

Or the one time Shiro called their parents when Lance came over.

 

Not the way Keith planned on introducing his parents to his boyfriend, but at the very least it all worked itself out.

 

Keith gave him a light kick on the shin. _ “Asshole.”  _ The base of Keith’s right first firmly tapped against his right ear as he gave Shiro the worst glare he could muster.

 

Shiro stuck out his tongue, clawing at his face.  _ “Grumpy.” _

 

_ I’m not grumpy, that’s just my face. _ Keith rolled his eyes more amused than irritated. It was a comfortable relationship that they had so it wasn’t like he had any real reason to be upset.  _ “This isn’t the start I wanted to my vacation, I hope you know this.” _

 

Keith got his bedhead ruffled in response.

 

That was Shiro’s cue, more or less.  _ “I’ll see you when tonight, so stay out of trouble until then.” _

 

With a nod of his head, Keith watched as Shiro turned around to leave. Petting Black and Red from their perches on the couch and grabbing his car keys. Then like that he was gone. Keith looked over to the ginger and black cats he and his brother had adopted a month or so after they had settled into the new apartment.

 

_ I guess it’s just us n- _

 

Red and Black ended up scampering off somewhere in one of their play fights.

 

_ …….  _

 

_ Or apparently it’s just me. Fine. _

 

Keith was fine with this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And with the arrival of day two, Chapter 2 is here WOOOO!!!!
> 
> I'm glad to say even though there are so few chapters, I already am starting to see a few icons and usernames that were familiar to my days of constantly uploading TDROS and I'm super happy and excited about that. And I'm seeing new faces here too so welcome the TDROS/TLDOS Fam. We're all dweebs, but we're cool dweebs who enjoy talking about cats and klance. May you enjoy your stay for these next... 38 chapters we have to go.
> 
> Oh boy this is going to be a fun one. Who knows, maybe there can be a Hunay-spin off in the distant future but I don't wanna get ahead of myself this early in the game!
> 
> Hope you guys enjoy this one!
> 
> Hmu @ @[ themultifandomnerd ](%E2%80%9Dthemultifandomnerd.tumblr.com%E2%80%9D)  
> Tag for the fic is, fic: tldos


	3. You and Your Bae Having a Mutual Understanding of Your Summer Plans is Key for a Good Summer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance and Keith discuss their plans for the future and end on a good note.

Lance grinned widely to himself as Red nestled comfortably in his lap.

 

_ This is incredible. _ He chuckled happily as he scratched at her ear and she purred. It had taken quite a few months, but eventually Red had warmed up to him coming around.  _ Now she loves me.  _ Even Black would occasionally come over to where Lance was when he would visit the Brogane apartment and rub against his leg which was amazing enough in its own right.

 

It was the Sunday before he had to go back to work at the Altea City Library, Shiro was at work.

 

Now here he was at the Brogane apartment watching Skin Wars for the umpteenth time with Keith on Netflix.

 

_ I’m still not over the fact that Gear got kicked off season 1.  _ Lance frowned to himself. That was such a dick move.  _ I demand my money back. Or another season where Gear gets to return.  _ Lance sighed with an eyeroll.  _ Rio too. He was nice. _ At least the third season hadn’t been a total let down as far as the winner, but the salt of the first two seasons were more or less permanent in Lance’s veins.

 

A soft chuckle broke Lance out of his thoughts.  _ “What?” _

 

Keith had a small smile on his face.  _ “You’re making a weird face.”  _ He furrowed his eyebrows deeply, rolling his eyes and making a deep frown.

 

“Pff.” Lance poked Keith’s cheek.  _ “It’s because of Gear and Rio.” _

 

Instantly, a look of salt waved over Keith’s face. 

 

He had been a bucket of salt as well their first time around watching Skin Wars. The most enjoyment they got outside of seeing the cool art was just mutually complaining about Cheryl-Ann. 

 

Life is hard when you’re young and beautiful and want good content.

 

Lance poked Keith again. _ “Do you think you’ll come back to the library soon?” _ Once school started up again, Keith had stopped volunteering. It sucked but apparently, Keith wasn’t the best at multitasking and the volunteering was originally just to keep him out of trouble. Lance’s schedule of volunteering had shifted to weekends and whenever he didn’t have soccer practice, so Keith usually stopped by on the weekend.

 

He still missed the daily conversations the two of them had last summer though.

 

_ “Yeah.” _ Lance started to grin widely. Keith was finally coming back!  _ “It’ll probably look good on a resume to show that I’m still volunteering. My mom said she’ll help me too. My dad… he wants me to do ---” _

 

Lance squinted before he wriggled his right fingers, sending a face down palm gently to his right.  _ “Fingerspell please?” _

 

_ “F-A-R-M M-A-N-A-G-E-M-E-N-T.”  _ Keith kept his speed moderate. _ “My dad wants me to do farm management.” _

 

Despite Red sleeping on his lap, Lance couldn’t have held back that laugh even if he wanted to.  _ Sorry Red.  _ He thought briefly.  _ But that’s a freaking riot. _ He could almost literally see it. Keith, on a tractor and wearing some red cowboy hat and some brown boots. Nettle the Demon Goat, who actually liked Keith (which is unfair considering Lance knew Nettle longer but whatever), following not too far away in the distance.  _ Omg that would be hilarious, he could dress up like Jessie from Toy Story!!! _ Lance laughed even harder at that before squeaking when a pillow hit him dead in the face 

 

Lance spared a glance in Keith’s direction and saw the sour expression on his face.

 

That just made him laugh harder.

 

A few minutes passed before Lance’s giggle fit passed. 

 

Cowboy Keith.

 

McKogane.

 

He snorted.

 

_ Okay okay, I’m done. _

 

A nearly gloved finger pointed in Lance’s direction before Keith waved out his hands.  _ “Are you done?” _

 

Lance nodded, pressing his lips down firmly as he fought down a smile. He waved his hands out as well.  _ “All done.” _

 

_ “I’m  _ **_not_ ** _ ,”  _ the brush of Keith’s thumb under his chin was rough,  _ “doing farm management.” _

 

_ Looks like Cowboy Keith is just going to have to stay in my dreams. “Then what’s the plan?” _

 

_ “My mom has some friends that might take me in at their flower shop, so that’s a start.” _ Keith revealed.  _ “I’m apparently good enough with plants that I might be able to help.” _

 

_ “Are they deaf?” _

 

 _“One of them is hard of hearing._ ” Lance could recognized the ‘H’ hand bobbing from right to left. _Hard of hearing. I still got it._ _“But my mom wants me to get more experience with volunteering and see what other options are out there before asking her friends is they’d like to take me in for a try.”_

 

_ Fair enough _ . Lance nodded, mostly to himself.

 

That was totally enough time to potentially nudge Keith in the direction of becoming a permanent librarian. A cute librarian.

 

Keith turned to face Lance completely, Skin Wars forgotten at this point.  _ “So are you staying local? For school I mean?”  _ Keith’s eyebrows were raised.  _ “Shiro was wondering what school you’re going to.” _

 

Lance scrunched up his nose as he thought back to his somewhat incomplete list of colleges.

 

**[** Altea University   
Arus Technical College   
Saint Garrisons   
The Legion of Adulting???   
Apply to dem Scholarships Cuz Ain’t Nobody Got Time 4 Dat **]**

 

Lance grimaced before nodding.  _ “I don’t know which one to pick.” _

 

Altea and the Garrison both had their bonuses right off the bat in that two of his friends were going to that school. So he wouldn’t have to worry so much about seeing familiar faces since he’d already have one to meet up with before setting out to meet new friends.

 

U of A was pretty popular a choice, probably tied with the Garrison. It was big for one thing, Lance remembered that when he and the senior class had been taken non-stop to university tours. The classrooms were somewhat small, making it easier to talk to instructors. 

 

The Garrison looked pretty nice too, especially in the science and engineering programs.  _ Great fit for Hunk. _ The guy was amazing in the Robotics Club, even if the club meetups looked boring from an outsider’s perspective. But it was fun when Lance got to go over and cheering his bestie on and seeing those fun Robotic competitions. Hunk’s team name was The Constructicons, there was a surprising amount of Transformers. 

 

And Arus Tech was…. Meh, Lance wasn’t really interested in going there. They seemed nice though, but Arus Tech would be more of a backup school than anything else.

 

_ “But you’ll still be staying?” _ Keith asked, moving his hands in small circles in front of him.  _ “Here?” _

 

Lance nodded again.  _ “I think so.” _

 

Nothing out-of-state had caught his eye.

 

_ “I’m just trying to figure out what has the better teaching program, I guess. But I’m pretty sure I’ll be staying in Altea.”  _ A good teaching program, maybe a good study abroad program, lots of clubs to choose from. Maybe some kind of magician that could help Lance actually make up his mind before university application deadlines passed and he didn’t have time to apply for anything?  _ Well... there’s always late enrollment I guess. _

 

Keith eyebrows relaxed and small smile returning to his face. He nodded, any sense of tension gone as he settled back into his side of the couch.  _ “That’s good.” _

 

Lance grinned and gave Keith’s knee a poke.

 

I’d miss you too, Keef.  _ “You’ll get to see my lovely face--” _ Lance paused.  _ “Hey, how do you sign Y-E-A-R R-O-U-N-D?” _

 

Keith pressed the tips of his index fingers together, then he pulled his right finger away and circled it around once before bringing it back to meet his left finger again.

 

_ “Thank you~” _ Lance puckered his lips and winked.

 

Keith shook his head, but his smile never left so Lance just assumed he wasn’t all that bothered. Lance decided to point expectantly at his lips.

 

Keith rolled his eyes again, but that didn’t stop him from still sliding over to Lance’s side of the couch to kiss him.

 

So Lance is the real winner here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here I am, back it again with the nearly 10pm chapters uwu. Now we're truly back in the TDROS/TLDOS system. But don't worry, still updating everyday and on time like I said. Lol it would be pretty embarrassing if I slipped up on the third day. I ain't going down like that though so haha, I am victorious!!
> 
> Things are starting nice and slow for our dorks 3 chapters into our 40 chapter journey, which makes me pleased. Especially since we all need some klance in these trying times smh. You know what, I should try to workshop their ship name into one of my stories.
> 
> Yes. I am going to do that. Somehow. I GOT THIS.
> 
> Hope you guys enjoy this chapter too ^o^, it's nice talking to you guys.
> 
> Hmu on tumblr @ [ themultifandomnerd ](%E2%80%9Dthemultifandomnerd.tumblr.com%E2%80%9D)  
> and the fic's tag is fic: tldos.


	4. The Library's Back... Back Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The library returns as Lance gives out book recommendations and reveals a tiny bit of information to the universe's best technical uncle.

“Excuse me, can you help me?”

 

Lance stopped in the middle of his task of reshelving to look to who had got his attention. It was a girl with dark red hair pulled back into a ponytail. “I sure can.” He grinned. “What do you need?”

 

The girl smiled. “Thanks! So I’m looking for a quick read for some summer book reading competition and I’m not the fondest of books.” She made a face. “But it looks like the prize is a gift card and I am totally using it to get this album by one of my fav bands.”

 

Lance immediately felt his interest pique. “Oh whose album is dropping?” 

 

The girl, Tall Red Head, grinned even wider. “So do you know this group called the Unilus?”

 

“You’re an Unilu fan?!” They were a more-or-less indie emo punk band. Lance blames Keith and his aesthetic for rubbing off on him.

 

There was a loud ‘Shhh!!!’ from the other side of the library and Lance winced as Tall Red Head snickered. “Yeah, I love them. So need I obviously need to pay my respects and get the new album when it releases. I just need to read 8 books hella fast, help me out?”

 

Lance puffed out his chest, “I’ve got your back, fam. Trust me.”

 

This was something that he needed to assist, greatly. 

 

“So you can only check out four books at a time here, so you’ll have to come back again but I will definitely be here again with some quick reads for you.” Lance said as he TRH to the fiction bookshelves. “So, this lovely read here is Suzanne’s Diary for Nicholas. I finished this in about 2 hours. It’s a fun ride. Basically, lady gets dumped by her boyfriend for mysterious reasons he finds hard to explain but he gives her this diary that belonged to his ex-wife and-- okay, that’s all you need to know. Just know, you might need tissues.”

 

TRH ‘oooh’d and caressed the cover. “I’m more happy about the size than anything, but I’ll check it out.”

 

“You’ll love it.” Lance promised.

 

After that, he took to the kids section to whip out The School for Good and Evil. Pretty good deconstruction of using old fairy tales for stories. “I’m giving you the heads up right now though, you’re going to want to square up with what is probably a freshman in high school by chapter five. I am definitely talking about Sophie.”

 

Then they grabbed two more books in the young adults section. 

 

If there was one thing Lance could appreciate about the young adult section, they always had quick reads that one could easily get through if they were focused enough. Which is why he grabbed Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz and To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han. “This second one here tbh has more of a slow start but once the action kicks in, it’s pretty enjoyable. Fake dating trope.”

 

“Oooh nice, you know your stuff.”

 

Lance gave a wry grin. “I pride myself in finding stuff to read when I’m bored since apparently me liking to do math equations when I’m bored is weird.”

 

TRH snorted. “Ew you like math?”

 

“Oh go check out your books.” Lance shooed her away.

 

“Ha thanks again. I’ll try to get these out the way fast.”

 

“Heck yeah, you get that gift card.”

 

With that, Lance went back to reshelving the nonfiction books he was given. 

 

The library hadn’t changed much since last summer.

 

There were old and new visitors, and Lance was pretty sure he would still be considered a favorite in terms of customer service. And the rest of the staff hadn’t changed much either. Gertrude at 78 was still a frequent volunteer and strawberry candies still remained and her fanny pack now invested in butterscotch candies as well. Lance wasn’t much of a fan of the butterscotch candies but he ate them for her.

 

Alice was still around as well. She had a rougher start with Keith last summer, but by the end of it, she was more comfortable around him and even learned a few signs.

 

And there were a couple more volunteers. This girl named Acxa and this other girl Narti.

 

They were pretty cool, but they usually kept to themselves and Lance could respect some friends wanting their personal space and whatnot. Part of him thought that maybe they were dating, Allura only chuckled and said not everyone had blossoming summer romances like him. He called shenanigans. 

 

Anyone could have a summer romance.

 

Or bookmance.

 

Which is what he usually had because sometimes you just need a good romance YA novel to project onto.

 

“Young Lance.”

 

“Before you say anything, I shushed immediately after i shh’d.” Lance said before even looking at the fabulous man who ran the ACL. 

 

Coran gave a nonchalant wave, “I’m not here to lecture, don’t worry. I remember my days of making noise in a library.” He sighed nostalgically. “I still remember this time my friends and I were kicked out of library for being too loud when we played Monopoly.”

 

“... pff why would you even play that in a library?”

 

“I think the real question is why did they have a game that intense in the library to begin with.” Coran laughed.

 

Touche.

 

Lance couldn’t hold back a chuckle from that either. “So did you need something?”

 

Coran’s eyes sparkled. “I just wanted to congratulate you on graduating from high school. And I heard that a certain boy had graduate at the top of his class.”

 

“Aww shucks, Coran, you’re making me blush.” Lance felt his cheeks heat up and he rubbed the back of his neck. “I think it was like, only barely or something like that so it isn’t a big deal.”

 

“Oh hush, quit being modest. Your future school is lucky to have you.” Coran patted Lance’s shoulder. “Have you chosen which school yet?”

 

And with that, Lance frowned. “Ugh no.” And the pressure of looming deadlines hadn’t been helping him with narrowing down his list. “Allura’s been trying to nudge me at Altea since she graduated from there, but she isn’t slick.” Lance totally noticed how as of late she’d been bringing her old U of A mugs as coincidental decoration on her desk. “I’m pretty… I guess I have more or less mixed feelings on each of the schools. So I’m trying to narrow it down. But my dad says I should just apply to all of them and see who replies.”

 

Coran gave a reassuring smile, “I’m sure you’ll get in anywhere with your grades.”

 

“Heh, thanks.”

 

It wasn’t as reassuring as Coran had probably been intending, but it was still nice to hear him say.

 

Lance worked pretty hard throughout the year to maintain his grades.

 

If his grades weren’t high enough, he got benched with soccer. But even then the crap he would get from his parents for having low grades would be intolerable. And when it came down to it, school was something Lance enjoyed attending so he’d be damned if he didn’t get good grades all the way through it. Especially considering how his parents had put him and all his other siblings through Kumon.  _ Well Ambar and Benji are pretty far off from their Kumon days but they were getting close. _

 

“I kinda just wanna have a school with a decent teaching program since I think I either wanna teach high school and be that cool teacher who lets their students swear-- or be that cool kindergarten teacher who gives everyone gold star’s. Or maybe be like my friend Pidge’s dad and teach at a university.” Lance was still up in the air. Still, he think he would prefer teaching kids if he were being completely honest. Even if the pay wouldn’t be the best. “And if they had good abroad options too? I’ve always wanted to do an exchange somewhere but my parents didn’t let me in high school.”

 

Coran leaned onto a shelf. “Any country in particular?”

 

That was one thing to appreciate about Coran.

 

He wasn’t one of those adults who would brush you off after a minute or two. He actually listened like an awesome uncle.

 

“Hmmm I kinda wanna say Japan because of my inner Naruto fan.” Lance could vaguely remember being nine and Naruto running in the park. God that was such cringe, he shuddered. “But maybe somewhere in Europe too, like Monaco. Something lowkey that everyone doesn’t think about when they think Europe. I’d essentially be a well-traveled hipster.”

 

“Well I’m sure you can do it and when you figure it out, you’ll have a great time in whichever country you choose. Send postcards to your old friends here at the Altea City Library when you do.”

 

Lance nodded enthusiastically. “Of course!” He tried his best to whisper-yell. “I’ll take so many pictures you won’t know what to do with them and they’ll all be on postcards and have me doing cool poses.”

 

Coran gave a hearty laugh and patted Lance on the back. “Make sure to dab in some of them.”

 

“Of course.”

 

Because dabbing, in Lance’s opinion, had never gone out of style. 

 

“But in all seriousness, thanks for being supportive.” Lance sighed. “I kinda feel like being the ‘Golden Boy’ kinda lead to some serious pressure and not wanting to let anyone down. Like if I make the wrong university choice I’ll basically bring down dishonor to my whole family, myself, and Kaltenecker our cow.” Technically. She really belonged to his Uncle Juan but she liked Lance better so she was basically his.

 

“I’ll always be here if you need a friend to talk to about your academic problems, Lance.” Coran stroked his moustache. “In fact, if you ever need a university recommendation I’ll gladly recommend-”

 

“Excuse me, can I get some help looking for a book on learning French?” A voice cut in.

 

“Oh, I’ll help you right now.” Coran offered immediately. “I’ll talk to you some other time.”

 

Lance smiled and nodded,  “Yeah, enjoy being a hero.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... lowkey got used to Lance's POV being the even numbered chapters, so next chapter will have 2 POVs because well... lol I fail at life sometimes OTL. And it's kinda late and well I like how this chapter turned out. But my bad for fudging the POVS OTL. And here we are with chapter 4, the library is back and so is my personal favorite segment-- shoving book recs down my poor readers throats lolololol.
> 
> But seriously, those make for some good summer (or winter for my southern hempishere homies) reads if you need them. And there's always the Warrior Cat series from last time, personally I feel like Omen of the Stars is where it lost all hope for me and Vision of Shadows is kind of a mess. Ivypool is my main though.
> 
> I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Sorry for the slow start, just getting everything established with our boys before some things start happening. What kinds of things, you ask? Can't tell you guys. It'd be spoiler-y. MUWAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA.
> 
> As always, feel free to hmu on my tumblr @  
> Hmu on tumblr @ [ themultifandomnerd ](%E2%80%9Dthemultifandomnerd.tumblr.com%E2%80%9D)  
> and the fic's tag is fic: tldos. Tag me in stuff if you dare *evil laughter returns*


	5. Apparently Loving Mothman Makes Keith a Furry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> #RealTalkThisIsFiller but Keith's embarrassing middle school phase comes to light and Lance and Hunk have a fruitless discussion on their Pidge Problem. Life is hard when you're young and a furry-- I mean, beautiful.

Keith bunched up his hair and sighed loudly.

 

Applying to jobs sucked.

 

He briefly considered dog walking until the profile setup was way too complicated and looked more like dog sitting than walking.

 

Virtual assistant jobs asked for too many references and Keith wasn’t going to ask his relatives to make them.

 

Being a librarian wasn’t exactly something he wanted to make a career of even if he enjoyed working at the ACL.

 

_ And then….  _ Keith glared over to the small few papers he had crumpled on his bed. That had been the papers his father had given him about some farm management job. ‘You like plants and nature.’ His dad had said. ‘You even like to keep house plants!’ Keith’s dad had said. But there was a distinct difference between liking plants and liking farming, and Keith was in no way flirting with that line.

 

Keith laid his head on his desk, appreciating the cool feel of it on his forehead.

 

_ Why can’t being a cryptid enthusiast be a job?  _ Keith sighed again.  _ I could totally make a living off that. _

 

He could see it all clearly.

 

He could start up a Youtube channel that catered to the Deaf Community. He could probably make tours for his conspiracy boards. Maybe review his opinions on certain shows that are apparently still running-- Why am I making vague threats at Hunting Bigfoot?? Heck he could even make videos about cryptids all over the States if he wanted to!

 

Once he got a big enough following, he could even get money for making videos and probably go on monthly cryptid hunting trips!

 

**[Me**   
Hey   
Do you think that it would be smart if I decided to go to virginia and try to find mothman??? **]**

 

Keith got a response about three minutes later, but it wasn’t exactly the response he wanted.

 

**[Lancey Lance**   
I want to be supportive and say yes but i feel like if i do you’re gonna go and play mothman mating calls and come back with some buff moth boy with polished abs.   
So no **]**

 

The laughed wriggled out of Keith’s mouth despite himself.

 

**[Me**   
I’m not going to try and hookup with mothman!

 

**Lancey Lance**   
And shiro didn’t tell me about your weird twilight phase where you vehemently on team jacob   
Sorry babe, but personally your track record of being a technical furry makes me doubt your fidelity **]**

 

Keith wanted to scream.

 

**[Me**   
I hate you so much rn

 

**Worst Brother Ever**   
What did i do???

 

**Me**   
YOU TOLD LANCE ABOUT MY TWILIGHT PHASE?!!?!? **]**

 

Shiro didn’t respond, but Keith knew the truth.

 

\----

 

**[Me**   
Okay so we need to figure out how to cheer up pidgeotto

 

**Best Friend Bear Hunky ver.**   
Yeaaah I’m not sure that just watching atla like we normally do is gonna be what she needs

 

**Me**   
It’s always what she needs

 

**Best Friend Hunky ver.**   
Idk man, she’s been pretty   
…   
Angsty?   
Like listening to mcr angsty. And she doesn’t even like mcr

 

**Me**   
Everyone likes @ least one song, shut up   
I bet she’s listening to teenagers

 

**Best Friend Bear Hunky ver.**   
Lance   
Plz

 

**Me**   
Well we already have the comic con tickets   
And we can’t just like take her camping and stuff   
I have volunteering and she hates nature

 

**Best Friend Bear Hunky ver.**   
Should we take her to see a movie??

 

**Me**   
Mmmmmmh   
Idk pidge is hard to take to see movies   
And to buy stuff for

 

**Best Friend Bear Hunky ver.**   
UuuuuuuGGGHHHHHhhh

 

**Me**   
Wanna buy her a puppy?

 

**Best Friend Bear Hunky ver.**   
Lance no

 

**Me**   
Fine. But it can totally be a backup   
What does shay think

 

**Best Friend Bear Hunky ver.**   
That making a friendship bracelet wouldn’t work

 

**Me**   
It totally would   
…... we can take her to a dollar theatre to watch twilight

 

**Best Friend Bear Hunky ver.**   
Lance

  
**Me** **  
** You’re right   
But no shame team edward all the way cause his actor hated being in twilight so much he’s literally the dankest choice **]**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay highkey this chapter is trash and filler because of my botch up from yesterday throwing off my grove but I hope you guys at least get some giggles out of the reveal that Keith was on Team Jacob. Probably because he's a furry. Definitely because he's a furry. My proof? His thing for Mothman.
> 
> But jokes and cringing aside at my writing so early on the fic, I hope that tomorrow's chapter is a lot better. I was mostly focusing on trying to set this chapter up so chapter 6 would start properly in Keith's perspective and stay that way. An unforeseen difficulty in this challenge? Using the same characters from last time and switching their POVs. But hopefully it doesn't happen again until it's actually intended OTL.
> 
> Hmu whenever on my tumblr [ themultifandomnerd ](%E2%80%9Dthemultifandomnerd.tumblr.com%E2%80%9D)  
> and the fic's tag shalt be fic: tldos


	6. Of Lectures on Library Conduct and Google

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith spends his time before the library opens greeting an old face and making a small list.

Keith shifted his hands through his backpack one more time.

 

He had his helmet nestled safely in there, his laptop, and a notepad with a pen resting in the confines of its spirals. In his pockets, his keys and cellphone. _Yeah, I guess that’s definitely everything._ Keith conceded.

 

With a sigh, he zipped his backpack completely before slinging it haphazardly over his shoulder.

 

He was finally back.

 

The countdown to his few days back to the library felt both long and short if that made any sense. It probably didn’t.

 

He was there about 20 minutes early after almost managing to finally sleep in for the first time in his vacation until Shiro came into his room to wake him up before he was off to head to work himself. Keith had more-or-less forgiven Shiro for the revelation that he had told Lance that at some Keith used to enjoy the Twilight series, but Shiro making sure he’d be early to his first day back on the job was appreciated.

 

 _But I’m still going to draw poo emojis on his face before the summer is over._ Keith didn’t know when. Probably whenever Shiro was lulled into a false sense of security that Keith was over it. Little did he know… Keith forced down a grin before pacing over to the library entrance, knocking loudly after feeling that the door was indeed locked.

 

 _Oh._ Keith felt like a light bulb went over his head. _Right._

 

He lowered his backpack and took out his pen and notepad.

 

It had been a long time since he had needed one of these for any other purpose than jotting down his thoughts as he scoured through article after article about the various government cover ups on UFO sightings. But the memories of having to use one during his last round of volunteering never left.

 

Keith glanced up to see if anyone was coming to open the door before quickly scribbling on the first page:

 

_Hi, I’m back._

 

And earlier than necessary because he was going to need at least… however many minutes left he had before the library officially opened to the public.

 

Then he looked up again to get a better look.

 

It was Allura.

 

She opened the clear doors with a wave and Keith nodded in reply, looking around to see what had changed.

 

Well the children’s section was spotless.

 

Keith almost glared at it.

 

He loathed this section and yet it seemed they always ended up crossing paths more than he would appreciate. He looked away before the urge really nestled in the impulsive wait time Shiro started making him do. Less than five seconds of thinking it meant a firm ‘no’. He just focused on writing down another message to Allura.

 

_I hope you’ve been doing well._

 

Allura smiled and nodded before pulling a purple pen from her pocket.

 

 _I have been._ She wrote. _We’re glad to have you back as one of our staff. Not much has changed here aside from the addition of Acxa and Narti. You’ll probably meet them later._

 

 _I know, Lance told me about them._ Keith wanted to write back, but instead he wrote: _Alright. Does this mean I get to avoid the children’s section?_

 

That only made Allura laugh and she patted one of his shoulders roughly.

 

Figures.

 

It’s official, they brought him back to torture him some more.

 

 _We’ll try to spare you as much as we can, young veteran but there will be times when you have to say hello to your friends in that section again._ Allura replied, her lettering connecting in a near cursive. Unless Allura meant seeing the Erin Hunter books in incomplete serialization, Keith didn’t know what she was talking about. _I better not see any of the new Warriors books_ , came a thought as Keith watched Allura write more. (Lance and Keith vehemently talked about the rise and fall of Warrior Cats since Keith had got him into the series. Omen of the Stars is where it seemed to just get tired. At least they still had Ivypool so that was nice?)

 

_And most of us know about you and Lance being a couple, but I’d just like to repeat that we really don’t need the two of you kissing in empty aisles of the library._

 

Keith choked on his next breath, face red hot.

 

Allura was smiling, but the smile but it definitely wasn’t welcoming.

 

_That only happened once!_

 

Well, at least they had only been found out once. There had been plenty of other successful escapades when there hadn’t been a lot of visitors, books were where they were supposed to be, and well, no one else was walking around in the aisles they be in. ‘It’s summer, you have to walk on the wild side’ Lance had said, and at the time it had made totally perfect sense to Keith to make out in the library like they were in some dumb high school romance movie. It was an indisputable fact when Lance said it like that.

 

But that once had been enough to keep Lance and Keith from even interacting with each other for the rest of their shift at the library. They hadn’t made out in the library ever since.

 

With that, Allura left Keith to his own devices and took his backpack with her to keep behind her desk. It was their system to keep his things where she could keep an eye on them while simultaneously guaranteeing no one would mess with them.

 

After a moment, Keith just headed off to the desk he had normally sat at with Lance.

 

_Speaking of…_

 

Keith finally looked around, he couldn’t see anyone else in the library besides him. Maybe someone was in a certain section or near the computers?

 

He pulled out his phone.

 

 **[Me**   
Hey, are you here yet?

 

 **Lancey Lance**   
I needed starbucks   
Did you want anything??

 

 **Me**   
Do they have cinnamon rolls? **]**

 

A minute later, Lance finally replied.

 

 **[Lancey Lance**   
They have something like a cinnamon roll

 

 **Me**   
I’ll take that then pls

 

 **Lancey Lance**   
(^3^) **]**

 

Keith took a seat in his old chair.

 

Yep, he was back.

 

He tapped his pen on the table for a few seconds, then spun it around in his fingers.

 

_I could still totally be a cryptid Youtuber,_ he randomly thought.  _As a backup unless I find a non-Youtube job._ Or whenever his mom managed to arrange time to talk to her florist friends. Keith would be a cool Youtuber. One who didn’t talk about werewolves or vampires on his channel, not because of his embarrassing Twilight past. (Definitely because of his embarrassing Twilight past.)

 

He scribbled that on random page in his notebook.

 

_Cryptid Youtuber. Or maybe freelance cryptid enthusiast writer? In some fancy magazine._

 

Then underneath he put:  _This is mostly a joke, but if I could earn money from this I would. Mechanic._ Keith bit his pen cap for another moment, then remembered Shiro's input about Keith potentially teaching ASL classes at the planetarium Shiro worked at.   _I barely survived teaching ASL to my friends so I don't think I'd be a good teacher for that in general._

 

Then underneath that sentence he wrote: _Maybe I should out that karaoke place Shiro likes?_

 

Just because Keith never chose a song to sign, it didn’t mean he couldn’t work there.

 

He shrugged and sighed in unison.

 

At least it was something.

 

….

  
Keith then randomly added to his list:  _Google online jobs that pay a lot and don’t seem to care about references. So much Google._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 6 hast arrived and in the proper point of view this uwu, tomorrow I'm gonna strive to upload this earlier since usually I do have the chapters outlined I'm just busier in the day now so I don't get to upload as much. But tomorrow is Friday for me so maybe tomorrow I can finally... do any earlier upload. I GOT THIS.
> 
> Today's chapter doesn't necessarily suck, but I'm not sure if it's what you would consider good. Definitely better than yesterday's chapter so I'm happy about that ^o^. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter with Keith and his job hunting thoughts. I know the feel OTL. Job hunting sucks especially if you don't have much on your resume. But you go, Keith, you got this!
> 
> hmu @ [ themultifandomnerd ](%E2%80%9Dthemultifandomnerd.tumblr.com%E2%80%9D)  
> and the tag for the fic is fic: tldos


	7. Yes, Lance, According to Multiverse Theory You Could Totally Be a Mermaid

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance and Acxa talk about their sexuality awakenings but they can at least Disney's fictional lions have a special place in their hearts.

**[Me**   
So how’s the job search going?

 

**#TeamJacob**   
Meh

 

**Me**   
You to?

 

**#TeamJacob**   
Have you started applying?

 

**Me**   
Yeah   
Still kinda meh on the schools though   
Might go on tours for them again though

 

**#TeamJacob**   
You’ll do good wherever you go

 

**Me**   
<3 awwww babe QAQ **]**

 

Lance heard a snort coming from the back where the fiction novels where and he felt himself grin.

 

**[#TeamJacob**   
Omg it isn’t that serious

 

**Me**   
It totally is   
So serious I’ll make a valedictorian speech when i graduate with my degree and mention your loving support

 

**#TeamJacob**   
I’m touched

 

**Me**   
You should be   
I’ll have you know I’m a heartthrob like Jose Miguel   
With much better abs **]**

 

Lance could practically hear the eye rolling when Keith sent back a ‘sure babe’ text. (But he still totally had better abs than the Jose Miguel in Soy Tu Dueña which his grandmother had played incessantly when he was a little kid.)

 

With that, their brief texting session was put to an end when Lance saw a shape moving in his peripheral. Better safe than sorry was his decided policy as he went back to gazing through the shelf he was in front of for misplaced books that didn’t belong. _ You’d be surprised how many people wouldn’t place a book back where they found it. Well, admittedly I have done it too.  _ Lance softly snickered to himself. _ But I’ve grown as a person cause I don’t do it as much anymore. _

 

It wasn’t a total hassle though since it gave him something to do as well as make the time go by a bit faster til he finally had a break. _ At least it isn’t until there’s been kids around.  _ Lance admitted, ignoring the fact he was having a private conversation in his mind at this point. E _ ven I can admit that kids aren’t always the best patrons. _

 

Especially when they got to June and started having their StoryTime Mornings where Allura would let parents in the library early so she could read to their children new books the library had received.

 

“Hey, McClain. Someone left a few of these YA novels by a random outlet and forgot to put them back.”

 

It was Acxa.

 

“Oh thanks.” Lance noted the titles. “Well someone here is a huge Sarah J. Maas fan.”

 

Acxa made a face, dark eyebrows knitting closely together. “I’m not much of a YA fan, the tropes are over used.”

 

“Oh Acxa, YAs are a treasure because of the tropes.” Lance grinned as he took them from her, nestling them under an arm. “But I admit, they’re not always done well. But there are some. But like, it’s better than some really bad Naruto fanfiction I’ve read back in 2007.” Those were the days… of not having taste.

 

She tried but the corners Acxa’s lips curled up. “Do I want to know what kind of stuff you’ve read?”

 

“It was the glory period of fanfiction.net and I shipped this character Sakura with essentially everyone in the show.” Lance said easily, more amused than ashamed by his elementary school self’s antics. “It’s still totally better than this time when I was like…. Idk 8 and I liked watching this cartoon called Go Lion--”

 

“The Voltron show??”

 

Lance nodded excitedly, “That’s the one. I was basically head over heels for that guy who had the red lion. He was basically my bi awakening and I when my older sister would watch her rom coms I’d lowkey picture myself with him.” Lance didn’t know whether or not to cringe. “Like the Blue Paladin was always my fav character, but I kinda had some embarrassing moments with my old Red Paladin poster. Not exactly the proudest period of my life.”

 

“I had a cousin whose awakening was Simba from Lion King so don’t feel so bad.”

 

“Okay but everyone had a crush on Simba and Kovu when we saw them, you can’t lie to me about this. Just like how everyone had a crush on Jim Hawkins from Treasure Planet.”

 

“More like Nala and Kiara and the Captain.” Acxa replied smoothly.

 

“Touche. Equally smart choices.” Lance conceded. “Personally, I was more of a ‘Simba’s Mom’ kinda, guy.”

 

Now that made Acxa’s nose crinkle. “Furry.”

 

“Would I be a furry if my boyfriend was human?”

 

“Whatever you say, McClain.”

 

Lance chuckled as Acxa went away and looked for the where he needed to place his new additions. He could almost see Keith rapidly signing away something about multiverse theory and how technically he could be some kind of cryptid in another universe since he’s human in this one.

 

_ And I could finally be a mermaid. A hot one of course. Definitely saltwater because then I could visit Varadero whenever.  _ Lance then briefly remembered his childhood cartoon and the Red Paladin.  _ Or I could totally be some badass who goes around saving the universe from evil aliens. And I could totally get the guy. And a parade. _

 

Shuffling his books to his left arm, Lance pulled out his phone.

 

**[Me** **  
** Babe, I could totally be a defender of the universe according to multiverse theory

 

**#TeamJacob**   
And I could be an alien

 

**Me**   
Would you ever wanna…. Phone home??

  
**#TeamJacob**   
Good bye Lance **]**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so this is technically... a little earlier than I have normally been posting but not as early as I wanted it OTL. I got caught up in Resume finessing and I think it paid off cause it's looking like I might get an interview at Barnes and Noble OAO. Wish me luck!!
> 
> Thankfully tomorrow starts the weekend and I don't walk around on weekend's so hopefully these next couple of days will have actual early chapters ^_^;;. My time management aside, not gonna lie I had fun with this chapter since it feels like it's been a while since a quality one was written and this time it's featuring Acxa and lighthearted conversation that isn't being peppered in with slightly stressful situations. This time... It's just about some fictional crushes.
> 
> And I officially say that this chapter has been presented to you all by the song De Cabeza by Poncho & Valeria because I had that on loop the entire time I wrote it. I've been watching a lot of novelas to get used to hearing Spanish. I recommend listening to the Tangled soundtrack cause their songs in Spanish are total bangers.
> 
> As always, feel free to hmu @ [ themultifandomnerd ](%E2%80%9Dthemultifandomnerd.tumblr.com%E2%80%9D)  
> and to tag stuff under fic: tldos


	8. How Do You Solve a Problem Like, Pidge-ria??

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith suggests a different approach to the Pidge Problem.

**[Me**   
So how’s it been with the pidge stuff?   
I haven’t been totally keeping up with the chat

 

**Shay**   
It’s been…   
She’s still pretty depressed about the whole graduation thing   
But she’s still sending a lot of memes so that’s better than her not sending anything entirely

 

**Me**   
Are we going to all be meeting up soon?

 

**Shay**   
I’m waiting for my next day off   
So is hunk

 

**Me**   
Oh

 

**Shay**   
We’re kind of trying to find something to cheer her up   
Pidge isn’t always the easiest to talk to sometimes about emotions

 

**Me**   
That’s because emotions suck

 

**Shay**   
Only sometimes

 

**Me**   
Most of the time

 

**Shay**   
Keith

 

**Me**   
Shay

 

**Shay**   
We’re trying to figure out the best way to talk about it

 

**Me**   
We can just be upfront about it   
Honesty is best policy   
Right?

 

**Shay**   
^_^;; keith, we’re trying to use tact

 

**Me**   
Tact doesn’t really do much sometimes though

 

**Shay**   
We think that’d it probably be best for someone like pidge though   
We don’t want to hurt her feelings

 

**Me**   
Mmmh

 

**Shay**   
We’ll figure it out   
I’m going to try and get discounted tickets so we can all go see something

 

**Me**   
If you think that’ll qwrk   
Gdi   
Work

 

**Shay**   
I’ll definitely see if it’ll qwrk

 

**Me**   
….. I resent this

 

**Shay**   
Are you envious about how I qwrk it?

 

**Me**   
How mature

 

**Shay**   
I am mature. I qwrk for a living

 

**Me**   
>:0 **]**

 

**[Me**   
Your girlfriend is evil

 

**Hunk**   
Is this about your bad qwrk habits? **]**

 

**[Lightning HunkQueen**

Keith has bad qwrk habits everyone

 

**Me**   
Hunk!!

 

**My Milkshakes Occasionally Bring The Boys To The Yard**   
Wtf is a qwrk?

 

**Taken Forgranite**   
Keith made the typo for the day   
Work is now qwrk

 

**My Milkshakes Occasionally Bring The Boys To The Yard**   
Lmaooo

 

**Me**   
You are an awful boyfriend

 

**My Milkshakes Occasionally Bring the Boys To The Yard**   
I like to think that as of late my bf qwrk has been up to par   
Pidgerella, what about your qrwk habits?

 

_ \-- Read at 7:15pm by Pidgerella-- _

 

_ ….. _

 

**Pidgerella**   
^_^b **]**

 

…..

 

**[Me**   
So what was that about needing tact?

  
**Shay**   
She needs her space too sometimes **]**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is brought to you about our dear sponsor... Procrastination. An old friend of mine that likes to stop by on weekends that I forgot would be barging in like it normally would. OTL I need to make these outlines earlier than I normally would, that would have me in overdrive. 
> 
> But here we go. Which path to take? Being subtle? Or being blunt? Personally, I think it depends on situation to situation but I'm a more blunt person by nature. So.... But still, I'm interested in hearing what some other approaches would be. Let us all have them in depth convos from time to time *strokes sagely beard I don't have*
> 
> As always, don't be afraid to hmu on tumblr @ [ themultifandomnerd ](%E2%80%9Dthemultifandomnerd.tumblr.com%E2%80%9D)  
> And the tag of the fic is fic: tldos!


	9. Laura McClain and the Quest to Deliver Elder Sibling Wisdom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance's attempt to procrastinate gets thwarted by a technical foe/ally.

Lance pressed his lips firmly into a thin line.

 

He hated essays.

 

Let alone essays that were about his accomplishments and why he should be accepted into his school.

 

_ I am very cool, enjoy memes, and pls?? _ __  
_ You’d totally enjoy my company. _ _  
_ __ Did I mention I’m exceedingly handsome???--

 

Lance immediately backspaced with a sigh. 

 

If only that was something that would actually work.

 

It totally should be.

 

Lance exhaled deeply through his nose. He would get through this, it would just take a little longer than he would appreciate. But he’d totally get through it so it would be fine. He’s Lane Mcclain, the master at somehow whipping up cohesive essays when he was under pressure. Somehow. Usually after several drafting attempts, spellcheck, and forcing someone to read it over before he finally decided it was good enough to submit.

 

This was why Lance liked math so much.

 

It was simpler language than writing.

 

Sure some math problems were a little harder to answer right off the top of your head but with a little work on scratch paper or even a high tech graphing calculator, you’d always figure out what the right answer was. Writing was much fickle like one of those old grumpy cats who liked you one minute but then hated you the next.

 

Then there was writing styles.

 

If there was one thing he hated in Literature, it was the various styles of writing people could choose to do.

 

He and Keith could agree on one thing academically, flowery prose and heavy metaphors could never beat the beauty of direct and simple flow.

 

_ Bump this, I’m taking a break again. _ (Even though it had only been about 15 minutes since his last break.)  _ I’ll just make bullet points this time instead of squandering time making myself a sandwich….. But another sandwich would totally be- Lance no. _

 

Lance pulled out another sheet of scratch paper that hopefully wouldn’t make its way into being a crumpled ball in his trash can.

 

Opening another tab, Lance went back to Youtube.

 

This is research, Lance decided as he went to the search bar and typed in ‘Altea University vlogs’.

 

_ Or maybe I should look at promotional videos?? _ “Or both.” Lance put on his best Tulio voice. “Both? Both. Both is good.” Lance pulled up yet another tab and going to another section of Youtube. _ Okay and maybe I should watch those vloggers who post Q &A vids about uni li- _

 

“So tell me how watching youtube videos counts as you typing up your admissions essay?” A voice chirped from behind him.

 

Lance scowled as his train of thought was interrupted. “Watching vlogs and promotional material to see how current students are enjoying campus life at a potential university I might go to is  _ research _ , Laura.” It was the best of both worlds. The vlogs gave a sense of actual realism in showing daily student life on campus that the promotional videos didn’t, but the promo vids were still good for aesthetics that showed off the best the facilities had to offer. It was nice.

 

Laura snickered as she strolled up over his shoulder to look at his laptop screen. “Well I’m definitely seeing happy faces here. Has it sold you yet?”

 

Lance shrugged. “I’m still trying to decide by looking over their programs and courses. I wanna have fun electives too, like an ASL class so I don’t always have to rely on Keith to help me learn new vocab.” Lance might have been doing better compared to how he was signing last year, but he wanted to learn everything.

 

“That would be nice.” Laura agreed. “I should text him soon to get his butt back over here so we can spoil him more.”

 

“Pff sometimes I feel like you love my boyfriend more than me.”

 

“That’s Granny, Lance. No one loves Keith more than she does.”

 

“..... I mean, I’m a close second.”

 

Laura only ruffled his hair. “Mom might say differently but sure, young Solo.” Keith was pretty well loved in the McClain Family, that was for certain. “Mom’s said she’s gonna start making larger meals for dinner so you can back leftovers to him and Shiro you when you see Keith at the library.”

 

“I know, she told me already.”

 

“And she also would probably tell you that looking at videos about a university isn’t totally the same thing as applying”

 

“Well Mom doesn’t need to know what I’m doing right now cause it’s a small break.”

 

Laura plopped down on Lance’s bed and squeezed one of his pillows to her chest. “I’m no snitch so don’t worry about it.” She reassured. “Just checking on you, is all. I did the same thing when I was looking for schools to go to and ended up stressing out and breaking so much I missed the deadlines.”

 

“I know, I remember.” Lance’s reply was muffled into his palm. 

 

Laura had ended up having to make a transfer from community college because of it. “And there’s nothing wrong if you take the transfer route but I don’t want you pulling out hairs over something you’re causing too much fuss about.” Her eyes were soft in a ‘I’m not trying to deliver the proverbial big sister lesson’ way. “If you wanna end up transferring, that’s totally fine. You don’t even have to worry about your high school transcripts depending on how many credits you have to transfer.”

 

Despite himself, Lance smiled a little. “I know, but I wanna go to university though and have fun and have some cool stories to tell everyone. So I wanna stay in the dorms at least for one semester and show everyone the coolness that is The Tailor.”

 

“Sewing isn’t really that cool, Lance.”

 

“I knit too, shut up.”

 

That’s totally cool considering when everyone starts getting cold and begging The Tailor for assistance, he’ll totally remember everyone who said it wasn’t cool he was good at that stuff.

 

“Pfff okay Shiki.”

 

Lance laughed. “That’s even better, that means I’ll get a stuffed cat that can kick ass in the future.”

 

“And that you’re stuck in a-”

 

Lance held up a finger. “Nope, nonononono-- you’re not ruining my Shiki vibes.”

 

“Sure sure but whatever the vibes, juuuust remember that stressing out gets you nowhere in the long run.”

 

Lance poked at his sister’s knee. “I know, I know. Thanks for getting all sappy on me and stuff.” (But despite the teasing, Lance really did appreciate it.) “I’m gonna get back to my essay writing now since someone cut into my break time.”

 

“My sap is better than the videos you were going to procrastinate with.” Came the light retort.

 

Which, in reality, was pretty true.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Omg... is this... an early update?!
> 
> I couldn't believe it myself, guys. *wipes away the tears* I wanna thank not only myself but the support of my readers for making me get my but in gear and actually get this out earlier than usual for once. And the outline I made last night instead of sometime today. Let's see if we can get two days in the row of this. My early update aside-- Laura returns!! It's been forever, but we finally got a McClain sib who exists in that lovely time period before we knew Lance was a little brother but uh..... shhhh. We have Multiverse Theory for this kind of thing.
> 
> But yeah, Laura is back with her lovely 4 years older than Lance wisdom uwu.
> 
> I hope you guys liked the chapter and could find some relatability in it. Somehow whipped it up while playing my scheduled Mage the Ascension roleplaying game one of my moms holds. 
> 
> As always, hmu @ [ themultifandomnerd ](%E2%80%9Dthemultifandomnerd.tumblr.com%E2%80%9D)  
> and the fic tag is fic: tldos


	10. Spotting Bad Omens with Keith, Cryptid Believer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith gets even more tired by his friend's and their tiptoeing.

While looking at his laptop screen which was projecting back to him shitty imagery of the worst live action movie known to man, Keith couldn’t help but think that he and Pidge were pretty similar people.

 

They were both socially awkward.

 

They believed in aliens.

 

Their taste in shows could match up from time to time. 

 

Like watching the X-files or Twilight Zone at 3am when they were supposed to be sleeping because it was a school night but who cared if it was a Sunday and that they’d end up hating themselves later on at school? Certainly not them. Yes they hated themselves, but it was certainly worth the plot twist of that Twilight Zone episode where being pretty was considered ugly and the ugly lady trying to get surgery to beautiful was actually pretty by their societal standards.

 

Which meant staying up even later to discuss what it would be like if looking ‘normal’ was considered ‘ugly’ and looking ‘monstrous’ was considered ‘beautiful’. 

 

Which meant having another in depth conversation on Multiverse Theory

 

Which lead to another conversation about Stranger Things and wondering how long either of them would manage to live in the Upside Down and then wondering how they went from talking about an episode of the Twilight Zone to Stranger Things.

 

It was a random memory Keith had about his friendship with Pidge, but it was an enjoyable one (that ended with him oversleeping the next day and being late to school). And despite the age difference and Keith’s initial apprehension when he first met Shay and Pidge that fateful day in a park, he feels like he got the closest to Pidge thanks to the similarities they had. Kinda like that thing he heard in a cartoon about people being so alike they hate or like each other. Keith and Pidge had bonded over aliens and documentaries about Nikola Tesla. 

 

They were the group conspiracy theorists, shorties, and technical nerds all in one. 

 

Pidge was just a bit more of a smartass than Keith was.

 

And Keith was apparently more of a ‘square up’ kind of guy than Pidge was.

 

To be honest… Keith would have to say that he was more ready to go toe-to-toe about something than any of his friends, Lance included and Lance could be pretty argumentative when he wanted to be.

 

Keith fiddled with his phone a bit more as he observed the recent texts in the group chat.

 

They had been talking about the whole Comic-Con thing they were supposed to be going to towards the end of the summer.

 

Mostly about cosplay and trying to plan what panels they’d want to visit when the schedules finally got dropped on the website and since they had all weekend passes, they were going to be taken advantage of everything. Lance would be dressing up as Sokka, Lance had finally gotten Keith to agree to not go as Mothman and as Suki instead, Shay was going as Katara, and there was currently a joke about Hunk going as Fire Lord Ozai since he was still undecided.

 

And Pidge, the Toph of the group, was barely in the chat at all. Not the group chat or in the rabbit chat.

 

And Keith might not have been the most socially inept person, but he at least understood that no amount of rabbiting The Last Airbender movie was going to magically make Pidge feel better.

 

Keith looked over at Red. _ I thought everyone else was supposed to be good at this kind of thing, Red.  _ He poked at her back side which only served to make his cat swat a ginger paw at him angrily before going back to grooming herself. With a hiss of his own, Keith retracted his hand and glared at.  _ She loves me one minute, hates me the next. Why do I even love her at this point? You’re no help at all, Red. _

 

….

 

Keith sighed.

 

_ I love you, Red. _

 

Then he looked back at his phone.

 

**[Me**   
Your moves aren’t very smooth right now, tailor

 

**Lancey Lance**   
Babe, not right now plz?

 

**Me**   
This movie would make a blind person more upset   
And a blind can even see the horrible cgi

 

**Lancey Lance**   
Well anything sounds bad if you say it that way

 

**Me**   
That’s because I’m right for once and you guys trying to beat around the bush sucks

 

**Lancey Lance**   
We’re just trying to subtly let her know that we’re always here for her no matter what, keefy **]**

 

The horrible pet name that Keith definitely didn’t love aside, Keith wasn’t really able to agree with this approach his friends were going with.

 

Keith hated talking about his emotions, but at the very least he knew that if he were in Pidge’s shoes, he’d be more irritated than anything else. All the coddling in the world didn’t change the fact that there was huge change coming.

 

And Keith understood that.

 

It was like when Shiro had finally left for university and he moved out of the house temporarily because he stayed in the dorms. It wasn’t like the amount of hair ruffles and playing Dungeons and Dragons was going to make Keith not feel a little upset that Shiro was moving out. And there was no amount of ‘He’ll visit’s that was took away Keith’s disappointment when he saw Shiro finally drove off to the Garrison.

 

**[Me**   
Well talking is more your thing right?   
So…   
Talk to her?

 

**Lancey Lance**   
Sometimes I feel like I’m not really the best pidge conversator

 

**Me**   
You would be if you actually talked to her or if hunk did or shay

 

**Lancey Lance**   
*awkward laughter*??? **]**

 

Keith looked up from his phone just in time to see what was supposed to be an epic battle scene between the Fire Nation and some random Earth Kingdom village and scowled.  _ Why does it take nearly ten people to move one tiny ass rock, M. Night? Why?!  _ Why did there need to be so much effort to move one tiny little thing that one person could do with maybe minimal effort?

 

He frowned even more when he saw the endless comments from Lance and Hunk and none from Pidge.

 

And if it hadn’t been for Keith’s knowledge on the real reason Pidge wasn’t so responsive in the chat, he honestly wouldn’t have blamed her for not wanting to respond to this insulting wet paper towel slap to the source material of this movie.

 

If anything, this movie viewing was just an omen for bad things to come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And with that, there is 30 more days til this story is over. That went by surprisingly fast, tbh it feels more like we should still be on chapter 4 or 5. Buuut I can at least be excited about getting closer to the stuff I wanted to cover in this and won't have to deal with excess slow buildup.
> 
> Hopefully it all pays off in the end ^_^;;. I really really hope it does, sequel stories aren't really always good and I kinda already feel like this isn't gonna be much in the grand scheme of things but it's a good way to see how much my writing has changed since last year! Plus... I need to sometimes kick myself into gear with writing and deadlines, so that's something I guess!
> 
> As always, hmu @ [ themultifandomnerd ](%E2%80%9Dthemultifandomnerd.tumblr.com%E2%80%9D)  
> and the tag name is fic: tldos!


	11. The Predatory Wasp of Palisades 2AM Texts of Admitting to Bae That He Was Right

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some near 2am conversating

**[Me**   
Babe   
So I’ve been thinking… Maybe you were right??

 

**Stealer of Hearts**   
Considering its…. Nearly 2am   
I’m gonna be nice and not assume that you’re not going to do smth stupid like send me bee movie memes

 

**Me**   
Omg that happened a year ago   
And beith for life, jerk. And i was just gonna say you might be right about the whole pidge thing

 

**Stealer of Hearts**   
Oh that, yeah in that case I’m always right

 

**Me**   
>:( babe

 

**Stealer of Hearts**   
So when are you going to talk to her?

 

**Me**   
No idea   
Pidge can be kinda…. Snappy when she’s an internal rage bucket   
I kinda feel like she’d yell at me if i tried to tell her the whole ‘we’ll always be here for you’ thing

 

**Stealer of Hearts**   
At least she’d know?   
And she wouldn’t yell at you   
Probably

 

**Me**   
You sound so reassuring

 

**Stealer of Hearts**   
Because I always am

 

**Me**   
….. Okay

 

**Stealer of Hearts**   
Besides, you’re the whole master of prying into peoples emotions. You’ll figure it out somehow

 

**Me**   
QAQ keefy!   
[GIF SENT]

 

**Stealer of Hearts**   
Now quit worrying so much and leave the worrying to Pidge

 

**Me**   
Nah   
I’m a genetically programmed worrier from a family of worriers   
I have to worry about everything   
How’s the meeting with the friends of your mom’s going?

 

**Stealer of Hearts**   
It’s going   
I’m gonna meet with them in a week or so from now, so that’s nice

 

**Me**   
Keefy the florist, I can’t wait to see that

 

**Stealer of Hearts**   
-_-   
Thanks   
How’s your stuff?

 

**Me**   
It’s going   
Trying to finish up an essay for U of A

 

**Stealer of Hearts**   
I think it’ll be a good essay

 

**Me**   
<3

 

**Stealer of Hearts**   
;*

 

**Me**   
\OAO/ I’d like to thank not only for myself for being so charming but my boyfriend too??

 

**Stealer of Hearts**   
Good /night/ lance

 

**Me**   
But my kisses!   
^3^

 

**Stealer of Hearts**   
I’m not smiling about a kaomoji kiss, I hope you know this

 

**Me**   
Okay but I know you are now, mr denial   
Goodnight

  
**Stealer of Hearts**   
Night **]**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You ever have a day where no matter what you write and outline you think it's utter garbage and it doesn't come out the way you want it ever?
> 
> Yeah that's this chapter for me because it's absolute garbage I wanted to get out earlier today but I couldn't figure out how to make the words happen even though I was determined to have ASL in this chapter and no text but I literally couldn't figure out what to do for it and I got this cluster of mess OTL. Creativity-wise, this was not a good day for me and I'd rather hurry up and publish this so I don't have to look at it anymore. Sorry T^T guys, you deserve better than this.
> 
> Hmu @ [ themultifandomnerd ](%E2%80%9Dthemultifandomnerd.tumblr.com%E2%80%9D)  
> and the tag is fic: tldos.


	12. He Sets Off

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keef goes somewhere

\-----

  
  


Keith jumped when he felt a poke on his side. 

 

Damn it, Lance.

 

Keith’s lips curled into a frown as he looked up at the smug grin his boyfriend was giving him.  _ “Not funny.” _ Keith squinted his eyes as he brushed his thumb under his chin then brushed his middle and index fingers off his nose.

 

Lance fluttered his eyelashes and despite himself, Keith could feel himself smiling.  _ “You are such a dork.” _

 

_ “You love me.” _

 

Not an inaccurate statement. Keith gave Lance a soft nudge and Lance started laughing.

 

With the library closing officially ten minutes ago, it was finally time for them to go home. And despite the day specifically enclosing some close encounters of the third kind with the children’s section…. Keith could generally say that the day had been decent.  _ “So.”  _ Lance said.

 

_ “So.” _ Keith signed back.

 

Lance rolled his eyes, but there was no spite.  _ “Did you want to go somewhere? Together?”  _ When he brought his fists together, Lance wiggled his shoulders in a cozy gesture.  _ “We could go to my house and watch a movie.” _ Keith briefly remembered the first time he ever gave Lance a motorcycle ride and how he nearly kissed the ground passionately when Keith had finally pulled up to Lance’s driveway.

 

Lance had since kept his word on never riding the ‘Death Trap’.

 

Keith released a nostalgic sigh, but he shook his head.  _ “I need to do something.” _

 

The corners of Lance’s lips faltered a tad, but his eyes were still light.

 

Keith circled a fist around his chest.  _ “I’m sorry.” _

 

Lance shook his head and leaned over to press a kiss on his cheek.  _ “It’s OK.”  _ Keith was really glad he had such an understanding boyfriend.  _ “What’s up?” _

 

Keith scrunched up his nose and shrugged.

 

It didn’t take much longer for the two of them to finally part ways after Lance walked Keith over to his death tr-- motorcycle.

 

It was a sweet gesture, a consistent gesture.

 

Keith took a deep breath as he pulled out of the parking lot.

 

_ Here we go. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BARELY MADE IT. IT'S LITERALLY 6 MINUTES FROM MIDNIGHT. IDJKFNDKJNFDJKFSFN


End file.
